萱草解忘忧Daylilies Dispel Sorrow

A clump of daylilies springs from among the rocks at the lower right. Their long leaves sweep up and over like ribbons, outlined in ink and filled with azurite and malachite green. Flower stems reach toward the upper left, carrying vermilion blossoms with curled-back petals, freckled with ink and orange at the heart, among nodding buds. The rock is rubbed in with pale ink, dotted with dark moss and washed with a little green. Above the topmost flower a butterfly flutters in, its dark wings spotted with green and red.

The daylily has long been called the flower that makes one forget sorrow. A poem in the ancient Book of Songs wishes for it to be planted behind the house, and in later times it came to stand for a mother. Painting it is a wish for an easy heart, for health, and for a child’s love.

萱草一丛自右下山石间抽出，长叶如带，墨线勾边，石青、石绿填色，挥洒飘逸，交错有致。花茎数枝向左上伸展，花作朱红，瓣尖翻卷，瓣上墨点斑斑，花心橙黄；含苞者垂首枝头，错落相映。山石以淡墨皴擦，浓墨点苔，略敷淡绿。顶端花上彩蝶一只翩然而至，墨翅缀以石绿、朱红斑点。

萱草古称忘忧草，《诗经》有“焉得谖草，言树之背”之句；后世以萱堂代称母亲。画萱草寓忘忧解愁，亦寄孝思与康宁之愿。